Susic: Players capable of more

20 June 2014 05:16

Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Safet Susic believes there is plenty more to come from his side as the World Cup newcomers look for their first win of the tournament at the expense of Nigeria on Saturday.

A good showing in their Group F opener against Argentina led to a narrow 2-1 defeat as Lionel Messi scored one of the goals of the competition to date.

With Nigeria and Iran holding each other to a goalless draw in a game bereft of quality, Susic now wants to see his side push on and progress into the knockout stages behind Argentina.

"We haven't shown everything we are capable of yet," he said.

"I hope that Argentina will win their other two games, because if they do then the second spot will be between Iran, Nigeria and Bosnia. I am convinced that we still have everything to play for."

Following a mediocre showing in their first game, Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi admits his players need to perform better across the board if they are to keep their own hopes of staying in the competition alive with a positive result in Cuiaba on Saturday.

"Yes, we need to work on scoring goals," he told Kick Off Nigeria.

"It is not only the attack that needs work; we also have to work on other departments too. Sometimes anxiety comes up on the players and they want to just score. I think they played well (against Iran) it was just mainly the finishing that is the problem."

Heading into the game, Keshi will be boosted by the news that defender Godfrey Oboabona could be fit in time to retain his place in the Super Eagles' defence.

The Caykur Rizespor man was forced off in the draw with Iran with an ankle injury but, with former Everton and Norwich centre-back Joseph Yobo on standby, Keshi is yet to make a decision on whether Oboabona is fit enough to start.

"I have received the medical reports on Godfrey and we are still very hopeful that before the D-day he may still make it," he added.

"Let's just be hopeful because he is an important player in the team."

Either Oboabona or Yobo will be selected to partner Kenneth Omeruo at the back for Nigeria, with the Chelsea youngster looking forward to pitting his wits against Bosnia's main man Edin Dzeko.

"It will be great to see how Edin Dzeko and I slug it out throughout the game," he said.

"Hopefully, they will play an open game and we will too, that would make it a very, very interesting game."